Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel

Everything We Know

This morning, 2K Games, Gearbox, and 2K Australia revealed Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. We’ve rounded up everything we know about the game, it’s new features, and the development team so you’re prepared to take a trip to the moon later this year.

Why "Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel"?The third installment in the core Borderlands series takes place between the events of Borderlands 1 and Borderlands 2.

Who are the playable characters?This time around, all four characters are familiar faces. The team reports to Handsome Jack before he took over Hyperion and became the villain we encountered in Borderlands 2.

Athena, the Gladiator - Appeared in Borderlands: The Secret Armory of General Knoxx.

Wilhelm, the Enforcer - An early boss in Borderlands 2. He appears as a human, though he becomes more cybernetic as you level up.

Nisha, the Lawbringer - Appears in Borderlands 2 as the sheriff of Lynchwood.

Claptrap, the Fragtrap - The first Claptrap we ever met, way back at the start of Borderlands.

Wait, I can play as Claptrap?Yes. And his camera is lower to the ground. He’s Odd Job for a new age. Maybe.

Who Is developing The Pre-Sequel?2K Australia is co-developing the game with series creator Gearbox. You might not know its name, but you’ve played its games. It was part of 2K Marin in 2010 when The Bureau: XCOM Declassified was first announced as the first-person shooter, XCOM.

In 2011 the studio became independent again and worked extensively with Irrational Games. If you’ve played BioShock Infinite, you’ve played a 2K Australia game.

Where does the game take place?The entire game takes place on Pandora’s moon and the Hyperion moon base. You’ll be moving in and out of structures as you make your way across the surface, which creates opportunities for new gameplay features.

Hey… how am I going to breathe on the moon?We’re glad you asked! In addition to grenade and shield mods, you pick up the new Oz kits. These afford you different amounts of breathable air (displayed on the HUD) while your out on the harsh surface of the moon. They can also be used to propel you into double jumps and let you float to the ground. Just make sure you get indoors or over to an oxygen vent on the surface before you suffocate.

But aren’t I already going to drift to the ground slowly?Right you are. The low gravity of Pandora’s moon means that you jump higher and land slowly. This will also make you a sitting (floating) duck. Thanks to your Oz kit though, pressing and holding the crouch button sends you rocketing toward the ground in what 2K Australia is calling a “butt slam.” Enemies that are too close will get stunned by the move.

What about new weapons? This is Borderlands, after all.There are two new weapon features in The Pre-Sequel. Borderlands 2 added Slag, an element that makes enemies more vulnerable to other elemental damage. The Pre-Sequel adds something even better: cryo.

Shooting enemies with cryo bullets slows and then potentially freezes them in place. Once that happens, you can shatter them into little bits.

On the other end of the spectrum, new laser weapons come in a variety of styles. Are you the Star Wars blaster type, or do you want something closer to a Ghostbusters proton pack? Good news! Both are available (along with other options). If you happen to be in an oxygen rich environment, they even deal fire damage.

How about new vehicles? The moon looks pretty big.We know of one new vehicle right now. The Stingray is a quad-bike with hover rotors instead of wheels. It looks like it might seat only one (maybe two), and we didn’t get to see it in action.

How about badass ranks and SHIFT codes?Badass ranks are coming back, but they are being overhauled completely. We asked about SHIFT codes, and right now the team is considering some revisions, though nothing is confirmed.

What about DLC?We asked about post-launch plans and nothing is announced at this time. Gearbox president Randy Pitchford acknowledged that the support the developer gave to Borderlands 2 has set a precedent that he hopes to live up to for this title.

Still want more? Be sure to check out our complete preview of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel.

I think it looks great, I don't understand a lot of vitriol the game seems to be getting. Well, I guess Colonial Marines left a bad taste in peoples mouths, but still, this is Borderlands. Surely it will be good, right?

OH WOW WTF!? WHY ARE YOU PEOPLE RIPPING OFF BUNGIE'S DESTINY GAME!?
Now no one will want to buy Destiny...even though BL is boring as hell and Bungie are among the best gaming studios in the world.
This is really crappy of you people, cancel this game since every other bad@ss looking game I had interest in got canceled (mostly star wars games, uncharted, GOW)

I'm pretty excited about this, but I can see several issues with having Claptrap as a playable character. First, the whole oxygen level thing shouldn't really apply to him since he's, ya know, a robot. The far more important problem is that Claptrap's inability to climb stairs is a well established fact. I kind of doubt that there is not a single set of stairs on the moon. Although I do suppose everything could just be handicap accessible. Ah well, food for thought.

Really excited for this, and I'm glad they are bringing back Slag powers. I always wanted the ability to freeze enemies and we finally get it.

All the characters seem interesting, but it's strange to have a claptrap as a playable character, and no Siren. :( We all wanted a moon base DLC, and we kind of got our wish lol. Looking forward to learning more about yhis.

This announcement was real sudden so I'm still not sure what to think. I am however disappointed it's not being developed by gearbox 100% seeing as how a lot of their outsourced stuff hasn't really been up to par. I'm going to be cautious about it but I still love me some Borderlands so I can't wait.

When I first saw came across this news on my twitter this morning I felt like a kid on Christmas morning. But now my mood has settled. This seems like too much to me, and isn't this just stealing thunder from that Tales from the Borderlands game? That seems like a tougher sell at this point. Also none of these characters seem very interesting narrative-wise. Of course playing as claptrap was always something I would joke about but can't say sounds too fun now that I see it happening. This Oxygen/low gravity thing seems gimmicky and is only going to lead to frustrating resource management and platforming sections. However, I will try to remain optimistic and really hope these games turn out right. RANT.

Simply amazed by all the shade being thrown in this games direction. Borderlands was a great game, but flawed. Borderlands 2 was an even more fun, greater game. I and pretty much everyone I've talked to that has played these games love them. The writing and humor is funny, sick, and fairly clever. No reason to believe this game won't improve on all of those things like Borderlands 2 did on 1.

i feel hesitant about this game, but i don't know why. i've played hundreds of hours of the first two games and really enjoyed the co-op experiences, so overall, i can't wait to get my hands on another installment.

sure, it's a bit of a disappointment that it won't be coming to new gen, but hey, what can we do?